him to see the Sheikh Burrachee when he came back
from the Equator.

And then Fatima brought him food, which he turned to like a baby to its
bottle.

From that day Abdul Achmet paid him constant and long visits, reading
long passages from the Koran, and expounding to him that, as Mahomet had
been sent to convert idolaters, and had accomplished his task, so now
the Mahdi had been appointed to teach the truth to Europeans and other
civilised races. The means to be employed were the same in both cases,
and were simple, consisting merely of the extermination of all who would
not be convinced.

"The great and indeed only object is the overthrow of infidelity," he
explained; "and if all infidels are killed there will no longer be such
a thing."

"QED," replied Harry Forsyth, in a tone of assent which pleased the
fakir mightily.

"QED" was not intelligible to him, but it sounded very well indeed, he
thought.

Sometimes Harry listened to these long tirades, and sometimes he did
not, the latter reception of them being very much more frequent than the
former. But he looked politely attentive, and that was sufficient. He
was the best listener when Abdul Achmet entered into personal details
concerning his heroes, in which he occasionally indulged; as when he
told how the Mahdi was brought up as a carpenter at Dongola; how he
first came to know of his mission; of the holy men who had taken up his
cause; and of his residence and education amongst them. And then he
described his miraculous success, and what a boon even in the present
life the spread of his authority would be. In proof of which he
recounted the extortions and cruelties of the Turks, and how the
taxation of the Soudanese was so excessive as to ruin the country
itself, while the bribes exacted by the officials who were appointed to
rule the country made it impossible to obtain justice. He also waxed
very indignant over the unnatural folly and wickedness of those Powers
who sought to interfere with the slave trade, which he looked upon as a
perquisite provided by Providence for the Arab race. Indeed the fakir
showed himself to be a man of some thought and shrewdness, and some
people to hear him speak might have fancied that secular interests, such
as improving their condition in life by throwing off a burdensome yoke,
and maintaining the considerable profits which they derived from
imposing such yokes on other people, who happened to be black and to
have t